Posted by fishmike:
I've never been so frustrated watching a guy play as I get watching ARod. The guy might be the best athlete in baseball but his approach to the game sucks. His strikeouts are ridiculous. He makes no adjustments when he's got 2 strikes on him. He's got the same homerun swing on 0-2 that he's got on 3-1. I have no problem with his fielding, and he's a great guy, good attitude, bla bla bla. He plays like he wants Aaron's record. Ive watched every at bat as a Yankee and Ive never seen him choke up on the bat with 2 strikes. You watch these young guys they have one goal at the plate. Get on base. They take a walk. They shorten their swing w/ 2 strikes. They keep the line going. Every at bat for Arod is long ball, long ball and long ball.
I forgot about the no trade. As for Eric Duncan I was thinking more the kid for the Dodgers would play 3rd. Regardless of #s Duncan is still regarded as a bigtime prospect. A lot of guys struggle. Melky did for one.
Arod's got his shortcomings, sure... believe me, i've bashed my head on the wall plenty of times when he hasn't come through w/men on base... but that's cuz we hold the guy to such a high standard... when you take a step back & consider the fact that he puts up #'s & helps this team win games w/his rbi's & HR's, he's still a player i want on my team... & certainly i'd take him anyday over an unproven prospect who has yet to put up good #'s in AAA ball... pointing out the fact that he never chokes up on the bat is reaching at any excuse to bash him... i mean come on, when have you ever seen Bernie, Tino, Paulie, Reggie, Thurmon choke up on the bat in clutch situations? these guys made their names & their livings doing what they do best... to ask that they suddenly change their approach to batting in a specific atbat to show you that they're trying to make adjustments doesn't make sense... those young guys are filling their roles & setting the table for big boppers like Jason, ARod & Jorge to drive them in... that's why you see them approach atbats the way they do... none of them are power hitters w/the exception of Andy Phillips, who if you haven't noticed, swings for the fences on every at bat as well because that's the type of hitter he is... i've seen Arod shorten his swing on plenty of occasions to get basehits up the middle... you don't accumulate a plus .300 ba over the course of a career swinging for the fences on every pitch.
as for Melky, he was batting over .380 in Columbus when the Yankees called him up this year, but ask any Yankee fan & there's no one out there who would have said "I'll take Melky over Matsui or Sheff" a couple weeks ago... now that he's proven himself in the majors, that might have changed... i suspect Melky will be a mainstay in this lineup for a longtime... Sheff's days in pinstripes are probably over after this season.
After 7 years & 40K+ posts, banned by martin for calling Nalod a 'moron'. Awesome.